Standard disclaimer applies, I own nothing. This chapter has been part of updating to fill holes and streamline it. All errors are mine, particularly the grammar ones.
Chapter Fifty
With a shadow spying on the island a new routine was necessary.
Emma still managed to fit in a painfully slow morning of research then Gold showed up, ostentatiously to drill her in magic. It took three full days of lessons before he found conclusive evidence of a watcher. Afterwards Regina and Zelena joined the masquerade but no one discovered anything else. No who or how or where or what.
Water splashed over the bow of the row boat as Anton propelled them around the island with a grunt. More than a week after first sensing the watcher Emma was finally ready to banish it.
"Last one." Emma held onto the sides of the rocking boat and grimaced, trying to find a way to apologize to the giant. "I'm sorry but I couldn't do this alone."
He tilted the oars into the boat, panting, and looking at Emma as if she was insane. "H-h-here?"
She nodded and Anton pushed the anchor overboard. For the tenth time that day, the never-ending chain unspooled and sank into the deep.
"I." He stopped and took a deep breath. "I thought this was the bottomless sea?"
Emma shrugged and ran her hands over the white sphere in front of her. It glowed underneath her hands. "I called in a favor from a friend. Or two actually. Ariel said there is a bottom, just never enough rope, or chain. Also, the sea creatures don't like to swim around so they just chomp through them."
Anton hmmm'd and turned back to Emma, the rattle of the unspooling chain continuing to ring in the air. "Thank goodness this is the last one. Queen Snow would be upset if you missed your evening check in."
Emma rolled her eyes. God forbid she miss check in. The small boat jerked when the anchor hit bottom.
"Don't you have a bunch of protection spells around the island already?"
The sphere floated up from Emma's hands and out over the water swinging back and forth to find the exact spot. When it stilled, Emma nodded at the giant and he leaned low in the boat to hold it as steady.
"It's for my magic lessons." Emma stood slowly, trying to account for the extra weight messing with her balance. "When Gold assigns homework, you do it."
She ignored Anton's frown. Tomorrow she could talk to him the truth about the new wards, when the island was safe from the eyes and ears of the shadow.
The glow of the sphere brightened and Emma lifted her hands palms up, the trailing chain of the sphere in one hand and the barbed end of the chain in the other. Her brows lowered in concentration to float the chain out to the sphere with the barbed end pointed straight down. While one hand held the floating object aloft, the other turned and slashed straight down. A rattle filled the air as the barbed end dived deep into the sea pulling the glowing sphere down into the depths.
Anton watched Emma flinch as the barb hit the bottom and the boat rocked. Her balance thrown off, Emma tried to hide it as she fell back into her seat.
"Really?" The giant asked.
Emma frowned and lifted the nearest oar back into the water, making Anton leap for the handle.
"Not nice, Emma."
"Then don't annoy the pregnant woman."
Emma flicked a hand to pull the anchor from the sea then watched as he heaved a deep breath and put the other oar into the water. He rowed back to the dock with the sun setting in the distance. Anton groaned with exhaustion as he fought the rough water. Emma took a deep breath and focused on calming the water around them.
It didn't work. "I'm sorry. I should've done this myself."
"Stop it." Anton pushed and pulled the oars, each word punctuated by a gasping breath. "I'm happy to help."
"Yeah, right."
Leroy waited at the dock and helped Anton tie up before the giant reached for her. Emma's mouth turned down but he lifted her up and onto the dock anyways.
"I can get out of the boat myself."
"Sure you can Emma." Anton shrugged and smiled up at her. "But you didn't have to."
"Thanks Anton." Emma spun toward the end of the dock and almost tripped over the angry dwarf. "Come on Leroy."
"Listen sister, anything happens to you and your mother will kill us."
"Tripping over you and falling in probably counts." Leroy frown deepened with her comment but Emma just smiled tightly and skirted around him. "I am pregnant, not sick or unable."
Behind her she heard both men sigh and ignored it, slamming the door behind her. An extremely well made door of her extremely well made castle. Emma groaned and released her clenched fists. She pulled the door open and stuck her head through.
Anton and Leroy waited on the other side.
"Thank you," she said with a nod before turning, leaving the door open for them.
Anton caught her from behind and picked her up off her feet for a quick squeeze of a hug then whistled on his way to the dwarves' door home. Leroy stopped in front of her and they glared at each other.
He looked away first, closing his eyes with a sigh. "Marco and August already left for the day. Your far tower is done, sister."
"And tomorrow?"
"Truth is there isn't any more work for us dwarves. Just the fancy work and well, you know, that other project. The one we're waiting on."
"Yeah, I know." Emma stared out across the garden then back at Leroy. Her brow furrowed at his downward gaze. She followed and saw her hand stroking across her belly.
"You don't know when you do that do you?" A grin cracked across his face.
"Nope." They both stared down at her growing pregnancy. "Only the twins' room, huh?"
"And you want to wait for the husband." Leroy's heavy hand tried to pat her gently on the shoulder. He shuffled back and forth on his feet, pulling the hat from his head and rolling it. "Marco said they'd be here tomorrow but just in the morning. We all talked and we thought we'd take a week off. Give you some time to settle in."
Emma studied the grumpy dwarf's face, unsure why he seemed hesitant to ask for time off. Then again, the dwarves were all about the work.
"Regina has some real work for you, doesn't she?"
"Running water is going to be real popular." Leroy grinned again. "You've no one to blame but yourself."
"Mostly I won't be seeing you guys till we know what we want for the babies." Emma accepted his nod and blew out a breath. "Brace yourself Leroy."
Before he could actually brace for it, she wrapped her arms around him in a hug then pulled back to place a kiss on his cheek.
"Thank you, and the rest of the guys. Second I have these kids I'll take you all out for a round at the nearest bar, or tavern, or whatever."
Leroy blushed bright red and began backing away.
"You got it." He stopped briefly. "Just don't ever do that again, Sheriff. It's just weird."
Waving goodbye to the dwarf, Emma hurried along the portico to her tower. As annoying as getting the reminder from just about every male working on the island was, missing her check in with her mother was a bad idea. With no one to tell her to slow down, she moved quickly up the stairs to her room. At the wardrobe she spun the dial set above the knob around one full turn and set it to the snowflake. Opening the door, she pushed through to the back and past the open wardrobe door into her room at her parent's castle.
Snow White waited by the balcony doors. She held out her hand in invitation and Emma took it, standing at her side. Snow squeezed it.
"A bird came. The Jolly Roger's been spotted about day away for the southern port." She rolled her eyes. "I know so don't say it. It's the fastest ship in any realm so they should be here late tomorrow morning."
"We don't have enough answers."
Her mother pulled Emma in for a hug and a cuddle.
"True. But we know more and maybe enough that certain preventative measures won't be necessary." She kissed the top of Emma's head. "Hope, Emma."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Emma wrinkled her nose. "Do you think I should wait here?"
"According to the dwarf grapevine."
"God, they gossip worse than anyone I've ever known."
Snow smirked. "But are a valuable information source not to be ignored. By noon, you'll be on your own for a week. Might as well enjoy it."
Emma blushed. "Mom, please."
"What? To be honest, you'll probably have to convince the pirate that you're perfectly able to…"
"Stop there." Emma pulled away from her mother and walked out onto the balcony. "We are no longer discussing this."
Snow followed her out into the twilight. "You're such a prude about this. I mean, once upon a time."
"Do you really want details about Killian's and my sex life?" Emma leaned back against the balcony and crossed her arms.
Snow waved her arm. "Point made. But in general, remember I'm here for you and I know about this particular subject and pregnancy." She shot a quick glance at her daughter. "I imagine that when you were pregnant with Henry, it was a little different for you."
Emma's head kind of shook back and forth a bit as she thought about it.
"Very different." Emma's mind went back to being pregnant and in prison. She remembered the other mothers trying to connect with her, when they talked about their experiences, their children, and what they did when they got out the first time or what they would do once they were out again. Emma remembered those who were proud, those who were ashamed and those who were determined to be better.
It wasn't until her mother placed a hand on her cheek she came back to the present. Snow smoothed a loose strand of hair behind Emma's ear.
"Maybe something you'll share with me another time."
Emma nodded as her mother wiped away her tears.
"As of tomorrow I think you can forgo the nightly check in."
A smile trembled across Emma's face. "Thanks, Mom."
Snow rested her forehead against Emma's and took a deep breath. Pulling back, she studied her daughter's face once more and nudged her. "Go home. Wait for your husband and son."
The night sea was calm and the stars overhead shifted into older, more familiar patterns. Killian didn't have a preference for any particular night sky, Storybrooke's or the Enchanted Forest's or Neverland's, but then it was never simply beauty that drew him.
As far back as he could remember, even as a child, the stars had spoken to him, letting him know where he was in the world. His father had taught him and Liam from a young age to read the sky until it was effortless.
Less than a day away is what the night sky told him now. It whispered through his brain so sweetly, so seductively that he almost forgot about his passengers. Killian steadied the ship and held to the course he had set when they arrived back in the Enchanted Forest. A ship full of cargo needed to be unloaded and knowing Charming as he did, the king was focused on reuniting with his own wife.
It never failed to make him smirk, thinking of David and Snow as Mummy and Daddy.
"What's that about?"
Neal's questions broke the silence of the night as he moved to the starboard railing. Killian lifted a brow to elicit a further explanation from the man.
"That smirk. It's kind of freaking me out and if it has to do with Emma, please for the love of all that's holy, keep it to yourself."
A bright open smile replaced the smirk and seemed to freak Neal out even more.
"The smirk was for the royals." Killian's lips quirked up a bit. "Mummy and Daddy."
"You didn't."
"Oh but how was I supposed to resist?" Killian chuckled. "It was a lovely bit of comic relief during a horrid time. And now, only used to tease them."
Neal retreated into his own thoughts and Killian watched the boy he knew in the man that stood before him struggle with some bit of annoyance in his head.
"You might as well say whatever it is. Your thinking is incredibly loud."
Neal hmphed, his eyes traveling over the ship. "The smile following the smirk was for Emma, wasn't it?"
Killian couldn't help it, he smiled brightly again.
"That's what I thought." Neal shook his head. "You just fucking light up. I came here to talk about my mom with you."
"Then let's if you're just going to have a fit over Emma and I." Killian shifted, realigning the wheel and causing the sails to snap in the wind. "Of course, when your mother finds out."
"Yeah, starting to look like coming up here was a bad idea." Neal made his way back to the steps to the crews' quarters but stopped on the top one.
"It doesn't, you know, freak me out." He sighed and stared up at the sky. "It's just weird to see you happy. Not bad weird, just weird. I guess if you sometimes see the boy you once knew, I see the pirate who gave me a home, for a bit."
Killian didn't have a response. That pirate wasn't all that he was then or now and the future stretched before him.
"I love Henry and there isn't anything I wouldn't do for him but we were still becoming whatever it is we are, friends and family, sure, but not father and son." He winced. "Yet."
"I think when it comes to Henry, we've proven the more parents he has the better."
That particular thought had occurred to Killian as well on more than one occasion. But.
"Still," he said. "Henry is practically grown."
There it was, the tiny worry plaguing Killian even as he planned his trip back to Emma. "As were you."
Neal leaned forward and waited for more but Killian wasn't sure he wished to say more.
The soft scrap of a boot below deck drew Neal's attention away from the pirate. David blocked the corridor below, glaring with serious frown darkening his features. Neal blinked and ignored whatever the king's problem with him could possibly be. One thing at a time.
"Killian, you'll be a good dad." Neal shrugged. "The details you'll learn but you already know the most important thing."
Killian nodded and turned back to the wheel. "We should be docking at the Charmings' mid-morning."
"Aye Aye, Captain." Neal went down the stairs where the king clapped him on the back with a smile.
Killian gazed up and spoke directly to the night sky. "I will never abandon them."
